Marketers Must Take Sales Seriously

As the defacto CMO for our global agency, I have responsibility for both our marketing and sales around the world. For that reason, Paul Gottsegen's interview here really struck a chord with me.

It's so true that at the end of the day, the function of marketing is to generate leads and to populate the top of the funnel. My global team exists on hard metrics around demand creation -- like every other business, we need to feed that funnel constantly if we are to meet meet our aggressive net new sales targets.

I have a privileged view of the marketing world because not only do I look inwardly at our organisation, but I get to pitch and advise a plethora of prospects and clients. And it's here that I see gaps appearing in the manner in which marketing and communications are aligned to sales.

Paul is on the money in his view that marketers must have hard data on marketing generated leads that lead to sales pipeline and ultimately wins. For anyone connected to the marketing function, the ability to demonstrate the return on investment through sales revenue should be considered their number one measurement priority. After all, the easiest way to ask for more budget is to have data that shows the revenue impact of your efforts.

So, let's continue to align the marketing function to sales in a more consistent manner. Let's not be afraid of that 'sales' word. By taking sales seriously, we'll own not just the story but the pipeline as well. And that's a great place to be.

{

CMSWire: What can marketers/CMOs do to prove they deserve their money?
Gottsegen: Bring more deals into the sales pipeline, and show that you’re increasing the win-rate of the large deals in your pipeline. The toughest nut to crack is proving the worth of the brand umbrella. Everyone in the company wants and expects it, but the age-old burden of marketing is to find effective ways to show progress. We’ve got a multi-dimensional dashboard that works quite well.